Keys, Keys, Who's Got the Keys?

As I was preparing to run some errands with the kids today, I realized my keys were not in my purse. I don't lose my keys too frequently, so I figured pretty quickly that Jordan had played with them and left them somewhere. We start looking in the general toy areas to no avail. I extend the search to the bedrooms thinking he wandered in one of them with the keys-no luck. I started looking in all the kitchen cabinets, the fridge, even the dishwasher. Nothing! The key to unlock the backyard patio door is on my keyring so I couldn't even go into the backyard to look; I had to hop the fence (23 weeks prego mind you) just to find out the keys were not in the backyard! This is now an hour after realizing the keys were missing and I was getting frustrated. I ransacked every room again-now the house is a disaster area and I still have no keys. Finally, I happen to glance over at the window in the front room; here's a downward-looking picture of the wooden blinds that are slightly opened-can you see the keys on my blue lanyard?

A few minutes ago, Karianna asked me if I knew where her shoes were. I told her in a very calm and polite tone, "You are in charge of finding them-I'm not finding anything else for the rest of the day."

I think I deserved that.

Lovin' the Goggs!

Yesterday our family finally got to go swimming together. Of course we have all been swimming numerous times in the month that we have been in this house, but usually it included other people, a party, or some of us swimming while...uhum...others did yardwork.

Yesterday our little family unit-Jared, Rachel, Karianna, JD, and Jordan-went swimming together for the sole purpose of having fun as a family. We played with the water guns, splash balls, and had a great time watching the kids dive into the pool (in JD's case, we are talking a literal dive). It was just so much fun to kick back as a family and enjoy each other's company.

Karianna discovered the beauty of goggles; she has tried them in the past but the straps bothered her. This year that doesn't seem to matter and she loved finding things on the bottom of the pool. We took a picture of her goggle eyes when we got out-the one pitfall of goggles! JD and Jordan wanted to take pictures too, and it just blows my mind how blue these boys' eyes are! Love these kiddos!

Yea for Karianna!

Karianna had her kindergarten assessment about a week ago. I wasn't too worried about it before the event actually occurred. After was a different story. We attended the testing session that included the school's accelarated preschool program. These kids are doing stuff I rarely saw from beginning first graders. I didn't know what to think about Karianna's future at this charter school after comparing her assessment responses with theirs. I hate these types of assessments all around. I do not understand how someone can get a full awareness of Karianna's readiness for school in one hour, simply by giving her a paper and pencil and asking her to "write all the letters you know". I could gripe about the actual assessment for a long time, so if you want the details you can call me. Lets just suffice it to say I did not think the assessment was age appropriate, accelarated curriculum or not. Anyhow.

Regardless of how I thought the assessment went, I was so proud of Karianna for sticking to it and trying her best! I was also ready to go to battle with the school and request that they retest her one-on-one instead of in a AIMS situation. However, I called the school and got Karianna's results-overall, they said she did absolutely great and she is just fine to continue at their kindergarten in the Fall. Yea!!!! I just figured after seeing their preschoolers that the baseline for admittance would be unattainablely high. I couldn't quite figure out how I would tell Karianna that she couldn't go to kindergarten after all; she would be disappointed about not getting to use a lunchbox. Thankfully I don't have to consider that any longer, rather I can now get excited with Karianna about the official start of school in the fall! Working with her thus far from the mom perspective rather than the teacher perspective has been awesome and I'm excited to support Karianna in her schooling.

So in commemoration of Karianna, here's a great skill she learned a few weeks ago that I finally caught on film-she can take Jordan out of his bed on her own. Very useful on mornings where I don't want to get out of bed. I can just call for the two older kids to come out of their rooms and then ask Karianna to get Jordan. Just awesome. Not sure if Jordan agrees with the awesome factor, but you win some, you lose some. :) Click on the picture to see Jordan's true reaction.

Father's Day 2009

Sunday was a very busy day for our family between church, visiting grandparents, and doing our own celebrations for Father's Day! I love Father's Day. I love making the day special in little ways for Jared, just to let him know how much we truly appreciate what he does as the Father of our home. I think not having my Dad here has made me view Jared in a very all-encompassing light; he is thee man who watches out for me and the kids, who takes care of us in every possible way, and who provides for our needs. That is such a huge responsibility and I was struck on Sunday with how much time and energy actually goes into that committment. My Dad did the job beautifully; so does Jared, and I know he learned from his Dad as well. I love the Fathers in my life and I am so grateful our home has a strong, valiant, and righteous Father figure in it. We love you Jared-Happy Dad's Day!

I let Jared sleep in until 10:30 (holy crow, that's probably present enough!). While he slumbered, I laid out a pretty decent breakfast spread for the family, including Jared's favorite breakfast food, crumb cake.

The kiddos presented him with their uber-cool cards and we had a wonderfully relaxing morning morning together. After church we headed to the Lautenschlager's for dinner and had a great time hanging out together! We love that we live so close to both of our families, it was excessively nice to go home at the end of the night with a 2 minute drive as opposed to a 55 minute drive! All in all, a great day and I hope all the Dads out there know how much they are appreciated and needed.

Best Buds in the Making: Part 2

Karianna and JD were doing some quiet time together before bed. At some point, Jared and I found them sitting together, sharing blankets, and just acting like mature, responsible, quiet, loving children. They must have been in some abnormal, hypnotic state or something, so I took a picture before they could break out of it. Some days I feel like all I do is break up fights or referee play time between these two. I love these moments when they prove to me that they really do love each other and love spending time together.

Best Buds in the Making

We are finally seeing the positive spoils of having two brothers share a room. JD was dead asleep when I laid a wide-eyed Jordan in bed with him. For a while, Jordan was so intrigued with listening to JD's heart beat that he didn't move a muscle. When Jordan did wiggle enough to wake him up, JD wasn't grumpy at all. He just smiled at Jordan and hugged him closer. It was cute enough to get the camara and record it for future days when girls and sports get in between brotherly love! When I asked Jordan to lay down, JD just leaned his cheek against Jordan's head and smiled a very content smile, like, "Yup, that's my brother and I sure do love him".

Enough to melt my heart. This is why I am persisting in the whole room sharing thing. We have an extra bedroom that is doubling as the office. Sure I like my office space. But deep down, I always wanted my kids to share rooms. I did my whole life, and although we had frustrating sisterly moments (they can attest to that...) we also had some of the best conversations and memories of my life. I want that for my kids and tonite, I saw those seeds planted in JD's bed. I love my boys!

Birthday Party a la JD and Elizabeth!

As is custom, we threw a double birthday party for JD and cousin Elizabeth (who turned 4!) on Saturday. This was a good birthday party in my opinion because it included a very convenient pool and a barbecue! It was a first get together at the new house-at least from a party standpoint-and as I've send before, having guests right after you move is SUPER because you have a great excuse for a messy/disorganized house. I have to throw a thanks out to Becca though because she said she thought our house looked great. That's always nice to hear when you feel like you have so much work to do! Anyhow, off this tangent...

We started off the party with presents for JD and Elizabeth. JD definitely loved opening his presents, especially when he hit the last one-a huge T-Rex.
He also got some fun pool toys and a bunch of ocean animal pictures that I laminated (they will eventually turn into a border for his bedroom).
We gave Elizabeth a barbie movie that I hope she loved! I personally enjoyed watching all the kids group-open the presents and I also enjoy the fact that the cousins are SUCH good friends, even the little ones. It's so fun to watch Logan and Jordan play together. Kaitlynn plays awesome with everyone, whcih is amazing. And after most of the guests left, Karianna and Makayla disappeared into their own play-world. At one point they emerged from my bedroom in Jared's clothes...Karianna had Jared's underwear on under one of his big shirts...I love it! Back to the party...

After presents we let Jared entertain us with his uber-cool barbecuing skills. When the kids finally got the message across to the adults, we let them donn the floaties and dive into the pool. I say dive because JD almost managed it-I wish I had that on film! It was pretty cool! So fun to watch all the kids playing together, and when I say kids, I mean the men as well :) JD did have one sad moment where he dove into the side wall in order to avoid jumping on Kaitlynn. He bit his lip but was fine after a few minutes and jumped back into the fray-literally.

Once the cool air descended on most of the kids, we did cupcakes for the birthday kiddos. I got to use my cool cupcake trees! Just in case anyone is wondering, these things fall over when placed on a refrigerator shelf. Becca and I opted to do fun cupcakes: we used a pudding/cool whip frosting recipe that we found in a Kraft magazine ; it tasted like mousse and I will never go back to regular frosting again! We then let the kids decorate their own cupcakes with mini oreos, cookies, and marshmallows.

The creations looked so beautiful that Kaitlynn and Elizabeth couldn't bear to eat theirs-that's dedication to the craft! All in all, it was quite successful and I really enjoyed throwing this all together with Becca's help.


After the party festivities ended, everyone hung out as long as they could, just chatting and letting the kids play. I think the last of the crowd left at midnight. Thanks to everyone who came, and if you couldn't make it, we missed you! I just love hanging out with my family, and doublely grateful that I have reason to say that. Happy Birthday JD and Elizabeth-can't wait till the double party next year!

It's a Monday.

While running errands this morning, JD very randomly said to me, "Jesus loves me." I asked him who else Jesus loves, and he told me the following: "Jesus loves Nana. Jesus loves Jordan. Jesus loves Daddy. Jesus loves my mommy. Jesus loves Sis. Mack." Long pause. "Jesus loves pumpkins." Don't know why for the last one. But I loved this conversation. Sis. Mack is his nursery teacher and does a GREAT job teaching the nursery lesson on Sunday. Yesterday's lesson was all about who Jesus loves, and I was just tickled to see that it stuck with him.

In other news, we are officially at war with our old landlord. :( It is quite frustrating and stressful; it gave me a gallbladder attack today (we don't really know if its my gallbladder, its just what we call these "attacks"). We are really hoping it gets resolved soon, just frustrating with a capital F. Too bad I don't have an episode of Wipeout to watch tonite-that would be relaxing.

We are also at war with bugs. We have had 3 ant invasions in the last week, all in different areas of the house. We have also killed numerous (and I do mean numerous) cockroaches in the last few days-most of them originating in our closet! And we're not talking miniscule insects, these suckers at 3 inches long on average. I hate bugs. We are fogging the place this week and if the problem continues, we'll have to investigate the more expensive route of pext control. Whoa, I just typed pext. That was weird. Too bad I'm too lazy to hit the delete key and change it to pest.

Thankfully we are no longer at war with naptime! Woohoo! It dawned on us yesterday that we have a fairly comfortable camping cot; I used it for nappers when I was doing daycare. We pulled that out of the garage on Sunday and out of pure desperation for a 3-kid nap, had JD sleep on it in our bedroom. It worked like a charm! JD stayed on his cot while Jared and I read next to him in our own bed; he played quietly with his animals, read some books, and then fell asleep with no coaxing. It was great! Karianna and Jordan slept in their own rooms and all was quiet on the homefront. The same results occured today and I am doubly happy because not only do I get some mommy-time, I get to stick to my tried and true schedule as well! Yea for small successes in mommyhood!

Finally, I have to note how much Jordan seems to have grown up over the last week. He talks all the time; he only has so many words he says clearly and purposefully, but he talks all the time as if he knows exactly what he is saying. He is starting to say some two word phrases as well, which is so great! He understands so much, it is amazing to me. Whenever he hits his head on something (which is a lot), he'll put his hand on his head and come up to me whimpering-very obviously telling me he got hurt. He'll come up to me and say "poo poo" when the time is right (which again, is a lot). He picked up the desitin yesterday and pretended to apply it to his diaper area. If I ask him where something is that he misplaced, he'll run directly to it. I can ask him to get something for me or clean up a certain toy and he's all over it. Today his toy lion was under the table, and he moved 3 chairs so he could crawl over to it. On Sunday, he showed me that he gets when it is prayer time-he just folds his arms when he sees someone start to give a prayer. I know these are all little things, but I just love to see his little brain working. Jordan still looks so young to me-most people don't believe me when I tell them he is 16 months old. So it is nice to see him growing so much on a mental level!

We did have a fun weekend celebrating Elizabeth and JD's birthday; I'll post about that later. For now we are surviving and trying to focus on the good things of life!

My, what big lips you have!

I'm not sure if it gets much better than this! I also love how he fell asleep on his pillows with his blankie on-just adorable!

The Beauty School of Karianna

Jared spent some quality time with Karianna last night. "Quality Time" as used in the previous sentence means "succumb to your daughter's girly whims and allow her to style your very boyish hair however she pleases". What a good sport!

2 Brothers + 1 Bedroom = Chaos!

The first week of JD and Jordan sharing a room went wonderfully. They slept during naps, during the night, and the giggling and talking was cute because it ended after 10 minutes or so. This is totally not the case anymore and its driving me nuts! They boys still go to sleep right away at night, but I am assuming that's because their room is pitch black so Jordan can't see the goofy faces JD is making, and its too dark for JD to venture out of his bed and throw toys in Jordan's bed.

Naptime is a different story all together-that's the "driving me nuts" part I previously mentioned. My kids have a very regular daytime routine, and I don't like diverting from it. That's all gone to pieces now that the boys spend their two hour nap talking, laughing, and trashing the room. Yesterday JD took all of his clothes out of the dresser and threw them into Jordan's bed. Jordan thought that was hilarious. Jordan spends his naptime rocking his pack and play back and forth, causing it to bang against the wall. I work with the discipline, and although I'm not giving up yet, I wonder how much of that is actually sticking once I leave the room.

So here's a few options. I could just nix JD's nap and have him do quiet time with Karianna. Problem with that is, he still needs that rest time, whether he sleeps or not (and ever since we moved and he's had a somewhat quiet atmosphere, he will sleep). I could have one of the boys sleep in a different room. Problem with that is I don't have a place for Jordan to sleep since we are crib-less, and Karianna won't remotely tolerate the idea of JD sleeping in her room. Don't want to rock the boat too much!

The option I tried today was the hardest for me: I changed the routine. ARGH! I hate doing that! I had Jordan go down for a nap on his own from 11 to 1. We did lunch, play time, and story time all together from 1 to 2. Then JD went down for a nap on his own from 2 to 4. Jordan usually does a second nap during the day and sure enough, he started drooping again around 3. Although I didn't plan on it, I risked putting him in his bed from 3 to 4. When I went into the boys bedroom to quietly lay Jordan down, I found JD asleep. He didn't stir at all while I laid Jordan down, and 40 minutes later, I haven't heard anything from both boys.

Success!

Question is, how long will it last? Time will tell!

I Expect a Full Summary When You Are Done

Just Kidding! There are, like, 10 new posts under this one-other than little random things I"ll eventually add, our blog is up to date-which is probably more meaningful to me than anyone else, but that's the point, right? Should you be truly interested in the Lautenschlager Family's last month of life in general, scroll right on down-the pictures are worth it if anything! Have fun!

Build-A-Bear Workshop

After our ultrasound appointment on Friday, Karianna and I were supposed to go to the Suffington Bear Factory with some of our Phoenix friends. Unfortuneately, we didn't leave the doctor's office until 11 AM-which is exactly when the tour was scheduled to start. I felt really bad, as I knew Karianna was equally looking forward to seeing her friends and to seeing how a teddy bear is made.

The contingency plan was to go to Build-A-Bear workshop. I have never been there and though Karianna might enjoy building her own bear from head to toe. My thoughts were right on target-Karianna had a blast! I was impressed with how kid-centered the place is. Karianna was grinning ear to ear as she kissed the heart, "bathed" her bear, and selected just the right outfit. Anyone who knows Karianna knows that was her favorite part, future fashion designer that she is. Everything is somewhat expensive, so we had to limit the number of things Karianna could get. In any case, the end result was beautiful, as was Karianna's reactions to every step of the process.

When we got home, I found a coupon for 10 dollars off any build-a-bear purchase of 20 dollars or more....darnit! Next time around I suppose! I had a lot of fun with Karianna and I'm truly glad she enjoyed herself as well!

The Big Ultrasound!

On Friday we had the important doctor appointment-the one where we find out what we are having in October! I am so very excited to say we are having another girl-yea!!!! This time around, I was really set on having a girl. I am ready to use all my dresses and headbands again! I love my boys, but a girl was defnitely appropriate for baby #4. I could never quite discern if my strong feels were directed by the spirit or by my own desire to have a girl. Thankfully, the two coincided and baby Sara Grace is on her way! Karianna came with us to the appointment and was quite intrigued by the ultrasound. She saw things before I could recognize them-ribs, spine, arms, etc. The ultrasound tech waited until the very end of the ultrasound to tell us that the baby was a girl and Karianna kept asking every minute or so if it was baby Sara or Joshua...I kept telling her I didn't know yet and shooting glances at the tech :) I am glad Karianna was there with us and that she is so excited for her sister to arrive!

I am still due on October 19th based on Sara's measurements; on Saturday I officially packed away all my regular clothes and unpacked my maternity clothes. It's funny because it has only been in the last 2 weeks since we moved that my belly has finally popped out. If I were being honest I would say I am glad to finally look as if I am expecting a baby, especially now that I know we are being blessed with a girl! Here's a pic of the ultrasound-I have to give kudos to the tech because this is the best ultrasound pic I have ever gotten! You are beautiful already, Sara Grace!

We Have Arrived!

To the land of awesomeness, that is. We got a very unexpected check in the mail the other day, and since it was unplanned money, I finally gave Jared permission to go buy his barbecue. He has been coveting the thing since we got married but I never felt like we could excuse the expenditure. Jared has been in heaven-barbecuing pretty much every night. We have discovered that barbecued corn on the cob is awesome; it is equally fun to have people over for barbecues and share the love! I'm personally excited to discover various grilling recipes and investigate how the grill fits into our food storage plan. Life is complete now-we have arrived!

The Big Move: The New Home

We have now been in our new home for 2 weeks-time has flown by! It is quite amazing to think we live in a home that we initially saw as nothing more than the Lautenschlager's second house that they were rennovating. If you had asked me a year ago if we would be living here, I would have given you a resounding no. I like having our own niche in the world (okay, in the major Phoenix metro area), and I didn't think I was willing to change that. But the Lord had other plans, and here we are, thoroughly enoying being in Mesa, close to family, and in a cozy, comfortable home.

The home itself is smaller than what we were used to; just one story and much more compact. We thought this would be a huge concession, yet we are pleasantly surprised that we are loving the smaller quarters of this house. It has made unpacking go quicker, that's for sure! I like having the kids closer to us at nightime, and it's easier to let the kids play in different areas of the house without worrying about someone falling down the stairs. I am really enjoying having a pool so far too-it has been a lifesaver for my pregnant belly and the kids are minding the strict pool rules quite well! We love living closer to family; it has been great to have frequent visits from cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents! The kids have already grown used to this and wake me up every morning with a chorus of "Who is coming to see us today?" We don't particularly like Jared's commute to work every day, but we are hopeful that will change soon. In the meantime, we are way grateful to a colleague who carpools with Jared. Church is going well; the kids are loving nursery and primary, although they are way smaller than our old ward. I think I am still trying to feel 100% comfortable in the ward I grew up in, but I think that will come with some time.

So thus far, everything is going smoothly. I am excited to unpack the bookcases this week, especially the kids' preschool-ish bookcase. I'm semi-hoping to get a few pictures up on the walls this week and having our couch delivered on Monday will be a welcome addition to the home. We are very grateful to the Lautenschlagers for making this move possible! On the way light side of setting up a new home, Jordan has already selected what he considers to be the best seat in the house. No one knew what that was for a long time-the only clue we had was the dark black circle on his head. We soon figured out that the circle was soot-his favorite seat is smack dab in the middle of the fireplace. Hee hee, I took a few not so clear pictures before blocking it off from all possible toddler access points. Welcome to the new home Jordan-glad you like it!

The Big Move: Things I Have Learned

Here's what I have learned over the course of the last few weeks in a new home:

1. Teaching two boys to share a room is a process. It still cracks me up to hear JD and Jordan laughing at each other during naptime. JD seems to think whatever is in Jordan's crib should be in his bed instead. Thus, I have found Jordan's binky and his blanket in JD's bed on multiple occasions. Thankfully, JD understands the beauty of a give and take relationship: he takes Jordan's binky and blanket, and he gives Jordan every stuffed animal in the room....all part of the process.


2. Cox stinks. It took 2 weeks to simply ascertain whether or not Cox could provide services to our new address. They couldn't find our address in their system even though there's a Cox box in our front yard.


3. Having an easy access pool when you are pregnant is amazing. I am ready to market my own line of pregnancy water aerobics.


4. It was a mistake to seat Jordan next to the garbage. If I don't get him out of his booster right when he is done, he goes "dumpster diving". I wasn't sure whether to laugh or screech when I found him trying to drink leftover juice from the empty can of green beans.


5. Kids think not having any furniture in one room is a perfect invitation to go crazy. Monday's couch delivery can't come soon enough for me!


6. Karianna is way protective...of her bedroom! She has been a nazi about keeping her bedroom door closed and locked all the time so the boys can't go in there and mess up her precariously organized toys. It is rather funny to me, and if it ever gets annoying, I remind myself that this reaction to the move is better than other reactions she could be having.
   

I'm sure there are more things I could add to this list!

The Big Move: See ya, Phoenix!

Heres' a post I wrote right before we moved...

The time has come to hit the road! Two years in this Phoenix-nearly-Anthem house; they have been good years and we have grown a lot as a family. When we moved to Phoenix, I was just barely pregnant with Jordan. We had high hopes for a new job, a new area, and a new ward. It was also the farthest we had ever moved from our family, which presented another realm growth-we had to rely on ourselves and our ward more than we were used to.

As a result, we made some wonderful friends in Phoenix and grew as a family unit, which went from 4, to 5 and a half. Jared and I both saw changes in our jobs, some good, and other trying. We both progressed in our masters degrees-I even finished mine in May. Jared had several testing experiences with various designations and certifications; it has been a great learning experience for both of us, and I am so proud of his hard work. JD started nursery in Phoenix and grew to love it; he was never a cry-er, nor the calmest kid in the bunch. He only sustained one injury in two years-a long scratch on his cheek that has yet to fade away. That's somewhat successful for our rough and tumble boy! Karianna started primary and had a wonderful time in sunbeams, and the CTR 5. She loves the primary songs and participated in her first primary program! She has memorized half of the articles of faith and her knowledge of the gospel has grown. Jordan was blessed in our Phoenix ward; he spent his Sundays with Jared while I spent my time in primary-either teaching, leading music, or serving in the presidency. I learned so much in those callings, especially the latter. I knew I loved working with children, but serving the primary invites a special love for the children of God. Those were special experiences. Jared found a calling he loves-serving as the financial clerk. He particularly loved his experiences serving so closely to the Bishopric. His testimony grew as a result, as well as his appreciation for those who are called to serve a ward family. Both of the older kids discovered movement, tumbling, ballet, tap, and swimming classes in Phoenix; most went over well, and the ones that did not (cough cough, JD...) were put on hold until maturity kicks in. In two years, we never had a major fall down the stairs or over the pony wall. We had tons of bloody noses, ER visits, and family nights. We were common visitors at the library, the park, and the rec center...and the McDonalds play area. We made lots of friends, with whom I hope we will remain in contact.

All in all, our two years in Phoenix were wonderful. We certainly had our hard times and struggled with the decision to move. But the time has come-boxes are packed, the carpet needs to be cleaned, and we pack the moving van in less than 48 hours. Although I am sad, I know good things lie ahead and we are looking forward to those experiences. The kids, bless their hearts, have been so wonderfully helpful in our preparations to move. Here's how they have used their time over the last few days-pictures that make me so grateful for wonderfully resilient kids who don't seem to be fazed by the idea of moving! You'll notice how Karianna is using the couch as a slide before it headed off to Goodwill. The kids made great use of the empty bookcase-all three played on it for a good hour! Karianna also showed off her artistic talents on the box lids; her pictures really were amazing and it makes me smile everytime I see them!

The Last of The Erickson Graduates

You know you really love your brothers when you are willing to sit in the rain-on bleachers-for nearly three hours with 3 small children, who were all wearing shorts because everything else was packed, and who were equipped with one small, broken umbrella. Oh, and I was foolishly wearing flip flops that had no traction. And Jared was under the assumption that he wasn't going to get wet. At all. Yup, that's definitely love, or at least a very strong tolerance!

With all that being said, I was actually quite excited to go to Red Mountain's graduation to see Robert and Stephen graduate a few weeks ago. I was even excited to deal with the weather-it was better than 110 degree temps and the blaring sun. The kids were way excited to attend graduation in general, and they had a blast. The highlights of the evening: hearing Karianna yell "Rock and Roll!" anytime the audience broke into applause-you can imagine how many times that happened; watching the random beach balls get tossed around the graduating class until a teacher confiscated them; not watching any streekers, thank heavens-guess the rain was good for something; successfully managing the kids after the snacks only last the first half an hour; and of course, watching Rob and Steve get their well-deserved diplomas!

We are so proud of you guys! Two graduates who finished with amazing academic records, great high school experiences, attractive-ness, and, best of all in my opinion, strong values and a willingness to stick to them. That last one is somewhat hard to come across these days, and I am so proud of my brothers and how cool they are in that sense. So great job Rob and Steve, we love you tons! Congratulations!

Preschool Graduation

I've put this post off for quite some time now because it makes me sad! I can't believe how old Karianna is getting, and it makes me even more sad that we don't live by her good preschool friends anymore. Karianna can try my patience sometimes, and it's easy to get frustrated with her. I regret those moments the more I consider how quickly she is growing up. I recommit every day to enjoying my time with Karianna, and the rest of the kids for that matter, because I want them to know how much I love them and how much I truly enjoy them. The end.

Alrighty, so preschool graduation! Karianna officially graduated from preschool on May 14th. She had a fantastic time with Miss Holly and all of her preschool friends. Her favorite parts were playing with friends, eating her lunch, and having free time. My favorite part was the exposure she got to social situations in a good, positive home environment. Miss Holly started the graduation by having the kids do several of their daily routines: saying the pledge, the days of the week, and singing a few of their favorite songs. Then we watched a DVD presentation of the year from start to finish. Seeing all the different activities they do from a picture-perspective just clarified how grateful I am that the spirit told us this was the right choice for Karianna's preschool year. I am also grateful we got a copy of that DVD to keep-we watch it frequently! After the DVD, the kids were called up one by one to receive their diplomas. Karianna looked so adorable in her graduation robe! We gave her a bouquet of flowers that I had arranged for her, as well as a gift bag containing a locket. She seemed so proud of herself and I couldn't help but project myself 14 years in the future to her high school graduation....oh, sadness, lets keep going here!

Here's a few pictures of graduation. I made Karianna's robe out of my college graduation robe-peel and stick seam tape works great! Her hat unfortuneately wouldn't stay on, but she didn't seem to care! I'm so glad Karianna had a great preschool experience, a big thanks to Miss Holly for providing such a great environment and spectrum of activities for the kids! And finally, we are so proud of our big, little girl and for all the ways she has grown over the last year! Kindergarten, here we come!

Dealing With It

A few days ago, I took the kids to the McDonalds play area just for something fun to do on JD's birthday. After a while, Karianna ran over to inform me that a boy was teasing her. She said he called her "nasty". Karianna proceeded to ask me if "nasty" was a bad word. :) We talked about it in quiet tones since this boy's mother was sitting right in front of me and I sent her back to play. Of course, Karianna ran back a few minutes later to tell me he was still calling her names. This happened 3 times when I finally gave her a very succint way of dealing with it: 1, ask the child to please stop calling you names; 2, move to a different area; and 3, come tell mom. I didn't know if Karianna was brave enough to try and follow through, so I was very proud of her when she marched right up to the boy in question and said, "PLEASE stop calling me names.". The boy stared at her for a minute, said "OK", and then thoroughly ignored her the rest of the time...which I suppose accomplished her purpose quite successfully.

I worry that when Karianna goes to Kindergarten in August that she is not going to know how to handle silly situations like this. She is such a sensitive little girl, and although she has a good, strong backbone, I worry that she'll get her feelings hurt. I hope that she has the confidence and integrity to stand up for what she knows is right. Maybe I'll take her to McDonalds on a weekly basis through summer just so she can practice this whole problem solving thing...

Happy Birthday JD!

JD turned 3 years old on June 1st-Happy Birthday Bud! I can't believe JD is really that old...in my mind, 3 is the official end to baby/toddler hood. And honestly, I still see JD as my little baby in some ways. He loves to cuddle up in my arms when I come to check on him before heading to bed. He gives the sweetest hugs and kisses, usually with his hands pressed against my cheeks. If he accidently knocks heads with me or something, he will gently put his hand under my chin and very sincerely apologize. I'll always remember with JD, he said "zorry" instead of "sorry" for the longest time! I miss that "zorry mom, zorry" to this day. Here's a few things JD has accomplished in the last year:

1. JD talks. A lot. And most people don't know that because that's how JD exerts his terrible twos/three-sense-of-independence-and-stubborness: he refuses to talk to people. ;) Silly kid, just this morning I asked him to tell Jared what happened to his bed, and he refused for a good 20 minutes. In case anyone is wondering, his diaper massively exploded. As soon as we get settled in the new house, those diapers are down the tube. I digress...
   



2. JD knows all his letter and sounds. I have to admit, I think that is just plain old cool, especially since I didn't really do anything to promote his learning. He learns so much from being around Karianna, and the Leap Frog ABC video we have didn't hurt. He seriously loves letters, and I just think that is great.



3. JD still loves animals of any sort, especially the kind that could rip you to shreds. He got a shark torpedo for the pool from Grandma and Grandpa L and hasn't let it out of his sight for a second. He can still spend hours with two or three animal toys, fighting them back and forth!




4. JD is turning into a very involved brother. He wants to do everything Karianna does. At the same time, he wants to play with Jordan whenever he can, which Jordan kindly endures. He has gotten very adept lately at pulling Jordan away from anything he shouldn't be touching. I love that protective nature and I really hope it continues.




5. JD loves Jesus. He loved the Easter pagaent this year and I could just sense his...familiarity with the spirit. He is very intrigued with the Easter story in general. If you want to catch his attention, just spend 10 minutes drawing out each scene on a whiteboard, and you will have JD's rapt attention. That's how we passed sacrament meeting last week in relative silence. :)




6. JD is very loving and I am personally so glad he has not lost that very innocent quality. Oh, he can be rough and tumble when he wants! But I am so glad I still have my cuddler-snuggler-hugger of a son. I really cherish those moments with JD.



7. JD is a nursery pro, but I feel bad for whoever gets him as a sunbeam! He did some rec classes this year, and though he had fun, it was a challenge to get him to sit still instead of race around the room, so much so that I decided to stop doing them until he was ready for those types of activities. So when he hits that nursery room in January, I sure hope it doesn't turn into a sunbeam race track.
   

So happy birthday to this happy little boy that I love! We started off the birthday celebrations on June 1st. We headed to Toys 'R Us to buy some clearance gifts and to walk every single aisle-talk about being in kid heaven! JD got an uber-cool balloon since it was his birthday, and then we headed over to McDonalds for a quick lunch and play break. After an afternoon swim with cousins, we had a small family party with presents, candles, and cupcakes. Very relaxed and laid back in light of our recent move, but honestly, it was a great day. I truly enjoyed hanging out with the kids and celebrating JD. Everytime I told him it was his birthday, he broke into a huge smile-he gets it. He loved opening his presents and watching Karianna blow his candles out. If you ask him how old he is, he'll tell you (unless he is opting to ignore you). JD is such a special little boy and we love him to pieces! Birthday celebrations will continue over the next week or so, so stay tuned for the rest of the activities!

Warning

For anyone who reads my blog, I'll just warn you now, there are going to be a billion new posts over the next few days. When I get sick of cleaning or unpacking boxes or trying to fall asleep, I'm going to resort to blogging! So be prepared for posts like "Moving Day #17" :) My brother told us about a cool website service that will print your blog out and bind it like a book for a reasonable price. We are so going to do that, but I have to have May completely updated before I put in the order so I can have a full year's worth. From that perspective, it is important to me to have all the little/big events recorded on the blog so we can go back and look at a good record of the 2008-2009 year. So again-be forewarned :) What a relief for me though, I have missed the relaxation factor that comes from blogging. Yeah for the nice cox guy that finally hooked up the internet after two hours of crawling through the attic!

Spare Minute

Amidst all the craziness of moving, I just have to mention real quick how grateful I am for my little family. We've run into quite a few problems that just naturally have to happen when you move; rather than get overly stressed out and frustrated at each other, I am grateful our family has managed to stick together.

The kiddos, bless their hearts, have been so good natured about packing. They've endured a lot of movie time, nap tims, and loosely monitored play time; I'm so glad they are so flexible, especially when its got to be obvious to them that changes are happening.

I'm also so grateful for Jared. He has got to be the most sensitive man on the face of the Earth. He has been so good about helping me out with every little detail of the past few weeks-taken over with the kids while I finished my masters portfolio, coming home from work each day and immediately jumping in to help, and putting up with my never ending list of "to do's". I'm just grateful for his attitude and willingness to help because it seems to make my day go by so much easier.

We celebrated our 7 year anniversary yesterday; the word "celebrate" here means "pack boxes and do laundry". But we did it together, talking the whole time and reflecting on the first 7 years of our forever. So at the risk of sounding mushy, I love my husband so much and am more in love with him today than ever. I packed my wedding bouquet last night-it has not only survived 7 years in one piece, but 5 moves, soon to be 6. That's gotta mean that we are in for the long haul! :)

So despite all the stumbling blocks, I am grateful for those things, and there are tons more things I am bound to be grateful for over the next few weeks as well. I have tons of things to blog about as soon as we get internet at the new house (not to mention some free time). Stay tuned!

Just For the Moms!

Happy Mother's Day! In order to commemorate this event, I had to share the following...it is just for the moms out there, so if the husbands can stomach it, good for you!

While getting the kids dressed for church, Karianna decided to put my bra on Jordan. If that wasn't funny enough, she then said the following:

"Happy Mother's Day Jordan! I'm giving you a breast for a present-now you can be a mommy too!"

Yahoo!

What a gorgeous day for swimming! Our whole family decided to take a break from everything and head to the pool for our first afternoon of swimming since the kids and I attempted it in early April. Karianna found out that she is tall enough to stand in the shallow end of the pool! Yahoo! That means she feels much more comfortable swimming without floaties. She was starting to get the hang of it last summer, but was still very unsure of being in the water unsupported. It was great to see how confident she was today, bopping around on her own and using her height to support herself independently. Granted she still needs to be monitored very closely should she stray past the 40 inch mark, but I think this will be a great step for her swimming skills. Yahoo again!

What Seems to Be My Weekly Update

I never thought I'd see the day where I was updating the blog once a week :) Hopefully once we are settled in the house I can indulge in this more-I miss it! So for our journaling purposes, here's a random update on our family.

Jared is finishing up a difficult class before he takes the summer off-I think he is counting down the seconds until that break begins! I am finishing up my masters portfolio and will be completely done with it by the 15th whether I like it or not! I love my studies, but it will be wonderful to have this accomplishment done. Both of us are just trying to keep our wits about ourselves trying to pack up in between our studies and work; I am hoping that getting everything organized first and cleaning as we go will ultimately help the actual box packing and eventual sanitizing processes go a little smoother.

Karianna is about to hit a landmark-preschool graduation! That event will be happening next week and I am excited to build it up for her throughout the week. At some point I'll have to post a huge "graduation" post for her, myself (authored by Jared hopefully), Uncle Robby and Uncle Stevie. Karianna is also finishing up her last tumbling class here in Phoenix and I love watching her do her thing. Even though this is beginning tumbling, she has progressed so much in simple things like hopping, balancing and stretching. I'm excited to see how she does when we start swimming lessons this summer! I think Karianna is feeling a bit sad about moving-she's seems a little sad all around and I can't blame her. She has a good group of friends I know she will miss a lot. I am trying to really give her good mommy snuggle time every day and I think that's helping. Cute Nana story: while in the car, Karianna wanted to know why she has sharp teeth and flat teeth. I explained in part that the sharp teeth are used to tear things like meat. Karianna said, "Oh, like spam." Of all the meats she could have named, that's the "meat" she came up with! Had Jared heard that comment, he might have passed out. :)

JD grew up a little bit a few nights ago. He does not have a nurturing instinct with his stuffed animals. They are usually trying to body slam eachother. When I came in to check on him a few nights ago, I found him scrunched in the corner of his bed, fast asleep, with no blanket on at all. That's odd for him. I realized he had sacrificed his comfort to tuck in his Goofy, Mickey, Pooh, and Tigger stuffed animals. They were carefully arranged on his pillow with the blankets pulled up to their chins. It was so sweet and made me realize JD is growing up! He has also been waking up a few times a week with "owies in his feet". We think its growing pains and rubbing his feet a bit before sending him back to bed helps-it will be something I ask the doctor about at his next appointment. I think JD's favorite thing right now is letters-he's pretty obsessed, which is great! Any game with letters is right up JD's alley. He is turning 3 in less than a month now and I am going to bet out of the whole family (including myself) that he will be in the pool the most this summer. Such a sweet boy-I love JD kisses and hugs. When Jared gives me a break and puts the kids to bed, he always sends JD running down the stairs to wish me goodnight. I have to smile when I hear those footsteps rushing down the stairs-JD comes racing into the room, strikes a Kung Fu Panda pose, and says in a sweet, yet mischevious voice, "Good night Mama-I love you!" Then he races back up the stairs. Classic JD-I need to record that at some point.

Jordan is such a character. I can't remember if the other two were like this, but he is truly a character. That's something my Dad would say. ;) Jordan is such a joyful baby, and seems tickled anytime he can unpack and repack my boxes. He's started to add several words to his vocabulary, including "ka-ka" for cracker, "ru-ru-ru" for ruff, ruff, ruff, "eh-meh" for amen, "mwha" for any kiss, and "dah" for dog. He follows directions so good; thankfully "clean that up" is one of them! You can see in Jordan's face that the coolness about walking has not worn off yet. He has a funny skipping run now when he wants something desperately enough (like food or milk or food) and he has adopted the funniest laugh I've ever heard from a baby, which is even funnier when you play echo with him! I can't help but crack up when he starts laughing from the backseat in the car because seemingly nothing is inciting the laughter-its almost like he's trying to get me to laugh back at him. Maybe I have a class clown on my hands! Jordan finally finished nursing about a week ago, and though I was nervous that our relationship would change, he has become such a loving boy. He likes to lean in and give me kissies and just lay down with me where ever I may be. Those are the kind of pick-me-ups during the day that every mom needs. Sounds like I have a perfect baby right? Just to dispell that myth, Jordan is currently sporting what I call "booger caterpillars" under his nose with cracker crumbs mixed into it. Gotta love it!

That's whats up with us for now-the next two weeks until the move are bound to be nuts, hopefully I'll have a chance to do a few more posts before we are officially Mesa Bound!